[From Mediaite] Anderson Cooper Resorts To Photographic Evidence To Convince Skeptical Fan His Talk Show Set Isn’t ‘Fake’ by Mark Joyella | May 12th, 2011 Since we’ve been a bit hard on CNN’s Anderson Cooper over his troubles with Twitter (like the story we did two months ago about Cooper, who has over a million followers, having no clear idea how to speak back to any of them; or the more recent story about Cooper’s accidental butt-tweet), we wanted to make you aware the silver-haired news anchor’s getting a lot better at engaging with all of those followers.…

[From Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute] [Image: Becoming (2007), Silvia Ruzanka+Ben Chang, the avatar is one week into the transformation process. Image by Ben Chang] The New Cultural Form: Perfection versus Mortality in Games and Simulation at Rensselaer Electronic Artist Ben Chang Joins Rensselaer Games and Simulation Arts and Sciences Program Published April 18, 2011 Willy Nilly’s Surf Shack offers a cure for the idealized virtual world of Second Life. The online shop, a project of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Associate Professor of Arts Ben Chang and collaborators, endows otherwise flawless avatars with real-world foils like clumsiness. A project allowing avatars to visibly…

[From Discover magazine’s Not Exactly Rocket Science blog] The Alice Illusion – scientists convince people that they’re dolls or giants May 26th, 2011 by Ed Yong In Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, the titular heroine quaffs a potion that shrinks her down to the size of a doll, and eats a cake that makes her grow to gigantic proportions. Such magic doesn’t exist outside of Lewis Carroll’s imagination, but there are certainly ways of making people think that they have changed in size. There’s nowhere in the world that’s better at creating such illusions than the lab of Henrik Ehrsson in…

[From Washington state’s Enumclaw Courier Herald] WALLY’S WORLD: It’s amazing how fresh the real world sounds By Wally Duchateau Enumclaw Courier Herald Columnist May 26 2011 Today I’d like to address the younger set, if any of them happen to read these columns.  Say, those men and women younger than 25 years of age. Among the springtime deluge of rain storms, thunder storms and flash floods, you might have noticed — for the briefest instant — a trace of sunlight. During those dazzling moments, you may also have sensed a desire to get out of the house, your place of…

[From StaffNurse.com] [Image: Dartmoor National Park, UK] VR Greenery Aid to Convalescence May 25, 2011 University scientists are seeking to take virtual reality to a new level – with a view to helping sick people who cannot get access to the outside world. The researchers in Birmingham plan their new worlds to be “sensorily rich”. They are using large screen TVs, video projectors and head mounted displays to create virtual versions of soothing rural and coastal scenes. The initial development is re-creating a stretch of the coastline of south Devon and an area within Dartmoor National Park. The developers say…

[From New Scientist’s One Per Cent blog, where the post features a 1:17 minute video] Telepresence robots go airborne 12 May 2011 Jim Giles, contributor, Vancouver, Canada Picture the scene: your boss phones to say he is working from home. A calm descends over the office. Workers lean back in their chairs. Feet go up on desks – this shift is going to be pretty chilled. Suddenly, a super-sized video feed of your boss, projected onto to the front of a helium-filled balloon equipped with a loudspeaker, floats silently into the room and starts issuing orders from above your head. Not…

[A press release from Sharp; a 1:24 minute video is available here] Sharp and NHK Successfully Develop 85-Inch Direct-View LCD Compatible with Super Hi-Vision, a World First*1 NHK (Japan Broadcasting Corporation) (Shibuya Ward, Tokyo; President: Masayuki Matsumoto) and Sharp Corporation (Abeno Ward, Osaka; President: Mikio Katayama) have jointly developed an 85-inch LCD compatible with Super Hi-Vision, a next-generation television broadcast format. This is a world first for a direct-view display.…

[From The Drum] Thu 19 May 2011 Virtual reality – museum gives web users a real tour Digital / UK A new museum in Belgium is offering you the chance to take a real live tour of its exhibits – without ever leaving the comfort of your chair. Visit the website of the MAS Museum in Antwerp and a tour guide carrying a camera will show you around the place in real-time as though you are really there with them. If that already sounds cool, wait until you hear the best bit. You can control your tour guide’s movements using…

[From Wired magazine’s Danger Room blog] Bin Laden Compound Now a Virtual Training Ground for Commandos By Spencer Ackerman May 18, 2011 TAMPA, Florida — To passers-by, T.J., a fit 20-something, is running around a red felt carpet about half the size of a basketball court inside a convention center. In his mind, he’s wearing a full set of body armor, his face obscured by a ski mask with a death’s head silkscreened on it. And he’s just dropped a terrorist inside Osama bin Laden’s Abbotabad compound. “Pushing out!” he yells, eyes obscured to the outside world by virtual reality goggles.…

[From a promotional brochure (in pdf format) on the web site of Amsterdam Airport Schiphol] Airport Park Amsterdam Airport Schiphol offers a surprising new attraction: a green ‘city park’ www.schiphol.nl/airportpark Airport Park is for everyone to enjoy. Relax, work, meet people and enjoy food and refreshments in the park. Once beyond passport control, passengers will now be able to spend their time at the airport in a surprising, park-themed area. Travellers can even step outside to enjoy the sunshine on the terrace. Airport Park offers an all-embracing city park experience, unique in the world. Airport Park owes its park feeling…

[From MIT’s Technology Review] Street View Steps Inside Google will let users check out a restaurant’s décor without leaving their computer Monday, May 9, 2011 By Tom Simonite Since 2007, Google’s Street View service has provided interactive panoramic photos that make it possible to virtually stroll down streets all over the globe. Within the next two days, Street View users will be able to click on the doorways of some restaurants and other businesses to take the experience indoors. At the Social Loco conference in San Francisco last week, Google vice president Marissa Mayer, who leads the company’s location-based technologies,…

[A press release from Yoostar via Business Wire] You May Now Kiss the Bride (or Groom): Fairy Tales Can Come True….It Can Happen to Yoo as Yoostar Releases Free Download of the Royal Kiss Scene for Kinect for Xbox 360 By Business Wire May 12, 2011 It was the moment the world cheered – with over two billion people watching across the globe, the image of Prince William and Kate Middleton enjoying their first public kiss is sure to become one of the most iconic images of 2011. Now Kinect for Xbox 360 owners can make their own Royal Wedding…